Mors a Ferrugineus
by yangires
Summary: [AU] It's been a year since Sora's dissapearance. And the mission recieved was simple. Retrieve Sora. But... Falling in love wasn't part of the plan, was it?
1. Prolouge: Empyreal

Mors a Ferrugineus

Mors (n.) A (p.) Ferrugineus (adj.): Death of the last light. Death of twilight.

-One-

Empyreal [em-pir-ee-uh (adj): Pertaining to the highest heaven in the cosmology of the ancients.

― **¤** ―

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts I or II nor the Final Fantasy series. Disney and Square Enix do.

Let's see! It looks like I finally got the guts to start a KH story, even though I was in the Kingdom Hearts fandom _waaaaay_ longer than the NARUTO one, surprising, no? Anyways, this is an AU story, meaning that some things will be a bit confusing, but worry not; I'll try to clear them up as the story goes. Now, without further delay I present to you 'Mors a Ferrugineus'.

-0-0-0------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Empyreal**

_His gaze made its way towards the dark __Keyblade;__ it'__s form__lying__ on the floor unattended. _

_"A Keyblade that unlocks hearts… I wonder."_

_His finger graced __its__ smooth cold surface as he soon grasped it in his hands, picking it up and examining it for a few seconds before he made up his mind._

_"Sora…?"_

_He brought it up to his chest and gave one last smile before plunging it towards his self._

_"No, wait!!"_

_He never heard their __pleas__ as his heart was swallowed by the darkness, just in time to see Kairi's frightened eyes. _

_"Sora, are you really…?"_

_'I'm sorry… Whoever you are.'_

Kairi awoke with quite a start; her eyes darted quickly around her room as her heart pounded rapidly against her chest.

She subconsciously put a hand over her chest, quickly noting that she was covered in cold sweat, and closed her eyes to recall the unwanted nightmare. She had been dreaming about _that_ day again…

The last day she ever saw his smile before the darkness swallowed him up. She could remember the look in his eyes as his heart was literally ripped from his body.

_Happiness._

She shuddered as she recalled that day. It was partly her fault… Maybe, just maybe if she hadn't been a Princess of Heart, maybe… Maybe he wouldn't have had to bear that burden.

Sighing Kairi shakily stood up her bed, the cold breeze brushed against her back causing a shiver to go up her spine.

It had been almost a whole year since that incident and she still remembered it as if it had been yesterday. The Door of Light had been successfully locked; right then he had disappeared without a trace. All that was left behind where his footsteps clearly marked on the ground, and even that would fade away quickly.

She remembered it clearly, the look on his face as he closed that door, a small King named Mickey inside along her friend, Riku.

"Riku…" she whispered as if testing the name. It had also been almost a year since she had seen him; she wondered what had become of him, was he alright? Had he gotten out?

All those questions would remain unanswered, since for now all she could do was wait, wait for them to return…

Her eyes made their way towards the small alarm clock on the night stand. 3AM, no wonder the sun hadn't come out yet. She slowly walked towards the door, knowing fully well that she would no longer be able to sleep, and walked out of her room.

Quickly making her way down the stairs, careful to not make any sounds she grabbed a coat from the rack next to the door and practically ran to her balcony.

The familiar smell of salt filled her lungs as the relaxing sound of the waves melted away her previous paranoia as she gazed out to the star filled sky. A small smile came to her lips as memories filled her mind.

_"I'll draw you and you draw me!"_

_"Okay!"_

She closed her eyes savoring those memories of her childhood, shortly after she had first arrived at Destiny Islands she had met Sora, the first thing she had noticed about him was that wild spiky brown hair, which at first had served as quite the distraction.

The wind tussled her crimson hair as she leaned closer to the edge, seagulls flew in the dimly lit sky and the sky took a blazing orange, red and yellow as it melded with the sea, the sun was beginning to pull itself over the horizon.

She remembered how she, Sora and Riku always used to wake up only to watch sunrise. But that was all in the past, and this was now… And now… Memories like that only brought one emotion to her heart.

Too bad _loneliness_ **sucks**.

Sighing for the umpteenth today Kairi's eyes drifted off towards the small islands where she used to play. She had come lesser times to the islands after Sora's disappearance until she gradually stopped coming at all, making a vow to not come back until Sora had returned.

But waiting never did anything, did it? Her grip on the railing strengthened until her knuckles became white. Resolve clear in her eyes. "One day, Sora. I promise."

She turned around to leave until she noticed something resting on the floor.

Kairi blinked, "Where did that…?" she looked around as if to find someone but upon noting that she was the only one out here she returned her attention back to the object.

It was a simple envelope, no name, no direction. Nothing.

She knelt down to pick the strange envelope up and flipped it around. Right in the middle of it stood a lone symbol, gold and in a strange shape that seemed so familiar but she couldn't quite place.

Hesitating at first, the crimson haired girl opened the strange envelope, her violet eyes widening as she read its contents.

Mixed emotions attacked her heart as she realized what this card meant, and just who had sent it.

"This time, I'll fight. I won't let you down, I promise."

And just like that loneliness was blown away by something else.

Hope.

― **¤** ―

_Kairi._

_As you may have noticed, the worlds are not as much peace as we sought to believe. It seems that something besides the heartless are out to wreck havoc and destroy our worlds._

_Please understand that what I am to ask of you is dire… _

― **¤** ―

_"Where is Sora?"_

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Not exactly what I would call a full chapter (Since I usually do about 10 pages…), but meh, it's enough to form a prologue and leave it with a small cliffhanger.

Just for the record this story will most likely have no pairings, and if it does, it will most likely be _waaaaay_ near the last chapters of the story. BUT!! There will also most likely be scenes that you can see a hints if you want to. XDDD;;;

Anyways, sorry for the short chapter, but they will gradually become longer as I update, and so will my inspiration. Hopefully, my writing style will stop being so… depressing. XD;

Ah well, hope you enjoyed this short chapter, please review, since I won't really update a story people don't read. And if you think you know what the letter is about to say, please do try your hand at guessing.

And if anyone has any constructive critique to give me to help improve how I write and to help people understand what is going on better, please say, I'm the kind of person who takes helpful advice to heart and mind.


	2. Déjà Vu

**Mors a Ferrugineus**

_Mors (n.) A (p.) Ferrugineus (adj.): Death of the last light. Death of twilight._

-Two-

_Déjà Vu [dày __**zh**__aa voo (n.): a feeling of having experienced something before although in fact it is the first time that it has been experienced._

― **¤** ―

**Disclaimer: **You know the drill, I own nothing except the plot, so please don't sic your lawyers on me. XD;

I got about 4 days to finish this chapter before my trial of Word 2007 expires so I better step on it! Hopefully, I'll be able to make it worthy of being called a chapter (AKA: My Policy of 10 Pages Equal One Chapter), so cross your fingers for me.

As for those who have asked why in characters it says 'Roxas/Kairi', well you see, both Roxas and Kairi are the main characters of the story, so that's why they're both up there. And don't worry, Roxas will make an appearance soon, after all, what's the plot of this story if we don't have our lovable blond Nobody?

And now, I present to you the second chapter of 'Mors a Ferrugineus'!!

-0-0-0------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Déjà Vu**

_Drip, Drip._

Ah rain. Good ol' rain.

Good old _annoying_ rain.

How he hated the rain, and the ironic thing was that he had been stuck in a world where rain seemed to be the only thing telling day from night.

Oh the _fucking_ irony.

There seemed to be no way of stopping the tiny cold droplets from falling onto his uncovered face and sliding of the bridge of his nose, creating quite an annoying distraction from his objective.

But getting wet wasn't quite what bothered him. It was the fact that with all the noise the small drops where creating, and the curtain of rain that seemed to fall endlessly on the ground, he couldn't sense _anything_. Which in this world, according to some of its inhabitants was a bad thing. A **very** bad **thing**.

Maybe walking around blindfolded wasn't the _best_ of ideas in retrospect now was it?

But Riku had no time to ponder upon his decision to blindfold himself as he knew about the dire task he had been assigned by no other than the King himself. It seemed so simple, but he knew better from past experiences.

It was hard to tell where he was with all this endless rain, but he had to hold on, for _his_ sake… Sora's sake.

The rain continued to gather on the ground in the shape of endless puddles, each making a symphony of sounds as their brethren joined.

Speaking of brethren… where was everyone? The strange city always bustling during the day seemed to suddenly die the moment a single drop of rain fell, it was almost like city kept a secret… or at least… a fear.

Maybe he should have followed their example and found a place to stay in, but as much as it pained Riku to admit it, he was lost, and if that wasn't enough, he didn't even know in _which_ world to begin with.

Oh yeah, being blindfolded was _definitely_ not the best of ideas.

Riku continued walking down the eerily empty street until he came upon a seemingly abandoned building, so tall that it seemed to stretch out to the heavens, and upon it stood a rather large screen, a quite familiar scene flickered on and disappeared just as quickly as it came.

Riku frowned, "Kairi…"

Something diverted his attention to the left as even through all the rain he could feel a small flicker. He scanned the area from where it just came from. There it was again, and this time there was much more movement. Realization dawned upon him as he realized the source.

"Even after all that… This world is still bound to the darkness." Riku didn't wait for the heartless to fully take form, instead he took out his Way to Dawn and attacked them head on, even those who had the chance to leap up in the air to try and claw at him where quickly taken care of.

He surely didn't need to see to be able to take care of such feeble beings as Shadows.

He winced when one of the Shadows managed to get a hit on him before it faded away in small wisps of black smoke.

They all faded away in black smoke, leaving behind millions of yellow and green spheres. Riku collected all of the yellow ones knowing fully well that he was as good as broke right now, and picked up a few green ones, just enough to heal the injury one of the Shadows had caused him.

Not bothering to will away his weapon Riku shoved his free hand in his pocket and stepped closer to the strange building, _something_ about it just seemed… off. And it wasn't the fact that it had just _somehow_ replayed a scene from his past. One that he wouldn't mind forgetting at that…

He shook his head. _'What am I _thinking_?'_

He let out a rather drawn out sigh before carefully climbing the stair to the building, his gloved hand brushed against the smooth surface of the door and just as he was about to turn the knob something, or some_one_ happened.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Riku's eyes widen, that voice, it seemed too familiar, but it just couldn't be… He spun around and came face to face with someone's hooded face.

"Where…?" Riku never got the chance to form a coherent sentence as the hooded strange chose to continue.

"Look, I don't know why an _outsider_ is in this world. But I suggest you leave now…" from what Riku could make out the opposing person had light colored bangs, possibly blond. He tried to see more but his attention was brought back to the stranger's words.

"… Dangerous."

Riku blinked behind his blindfold, when had he gotten from 'Now' to 'Dangerous'? He would never know.

The opposing boy turned to leave but stopped when he seemingly remembered something. "Oh, and don't make a habit of meddling in other worldly affairs."

And with those words he began to walk off, leaving a very perplexed Riku behind and one very large lump in said boy's throat.

Turning back to building Riku frowned, what right did that boy have to tell him off like that, it wasn't like he knew why Riku was even here after all.

He turned back towards the strange boy only to find him gone, strange wisps of darkness lingering the street before they disappeared.

"Just what and _who_ was that?" Riku shook his head and soon found himself walking down the stairs of the strange building. He gave one glance over his shoulder and the same strange flicker as last time appeared on the rather large screen, this time bringing forth yet another memory.

'… _Sora_.'

More flickers caught his attention, this time coming from the sky: Streaking lights.

This could only mean one thing.

**Meteors**.

And they were all heading for one same direction: The top of the strange skyscraper.

Fuck whatever that strange boy had said earlier, Riku's mission obviously was of no concern to him.

Pushing away any and all warning that he had been given earlier Riku ran forward towards the building, pushing the doors in and preparing himself for any danger that may come.

― **¤** ―

The harsh sound of rain rung on his ears as his black coat whipped around his legs with each step.

His fingers twitched with the urge to fight, but he knew he had to wait, for his presence needed to be well masked from the rest of this world.

He stopped as he saw his shadow growing bigger between a few rapid flickers of light, his coat lashed around his body as he turned around to face the cause of this.

Up in the sky several streaks of white, red and blue hues fell down at an alarming speed. And surprisingly enough they all seemed to be headed towards the same location.

"The Station…" he muttered under his breath as his gaze traveled up the skyscraper, soon taking notice of some strange being standing on top of it.

His lips twitched into a smirk as he realized how much he could identify from his position.

Absolutely _nothing_.

Not wanting to call for attention he began running towards the skyscraper sometimes being detained by heartless that he quickly took care off. After what seemed like forever he stood in front of the tower, every single detail of it clear now.

And so was the silver haired boy he had stopped from entering earlier. _People never listen these days do they…?_

Before he could make any movement to call the boy's attention he found himself surrounded by a sea of heartless. He frowned, Neo Shadows, he should have known that the darkness in this world would soon attract something other than mere Shadows. But even while being surrounded by a seemingly endless sea of Heartless he never once appeared phased or even slightly surprised, for the thrill of battle was enough to bring a different reaction.

And so he took out his weapons. With one expert twist of his wrist a Keyblade materialized on his hand, Oblivion; soon enough doing the same movement with his other hand the Oathkeeper appeared with a flashing glint of its smooth metal surface

He brought the two Keyblades together causing a rather impressing crackle of energy to be produced.

And all this time he knew that on the top of the skyscraper stood Riku with a smirk plastered on his lips.

― **¤** ―

(…:-**KAIRI'S POV**-:…)

This was it. I could practically feel it down to the deepest part of my heart that today would be the day that strange letter mentioned. I couldn't help but to smile, something, or maybe… Some_one_ out there was trying to send me a message, that today would be the day where my journey would start, and this time I not sit back and play damsel in distress as I had been before.

This time, they will see _my_ back as I fight, I will be the main character, not the princess that needs saving. I'm sure of it.

"Huh?"

I looked down and noticed something brushing against my leg, as I bent down to pick it up I couldn't help it as a very random thought of how the sea seemed to be in an endless game of tug-a-war.

Lame, I know.

I looked at the thing in my hand before I realized what it was, a thalasa shell.

I smiled to myself as I remembered back then when I made a charm out of these, Sora kept that.

My heart sank at the thought of that name.

Sora.

Everyone else in the island would say 'Kai, it's been almost a year.' And I, myself, would take that as a sort of rude insult.

But I just said just pretended I never heard them and laughed.

Wow, so mature. Not…

Sadly, sometimes even I myself would wonder if I had really gone past the point of obsession with him. But no one could understand how it felt… To be so close to him one second, and have him gone the next.

I put my hands on my back and looked at the sky, hopping… praying for an answer, anything.

And that's when I spotted _it_.

A single streak of white light falling down towards the ocean, or so I thought. Before I could even blink, or even follow its movement it unceremoniously crashed on top of a familiar dock in the distance.

That island…

The one I swore to never step on until I found out about Sora.

Swallowing an uncomfortable lump in my throat I took a few steps back, not once taking my eyes off the island.

"KAIRI!!" A voice called from behind me.

I turned around and there was my only female friend, still dressed in her school uniform just like me and oddly enough, grinning like a mad woman.

"Sel-!" I never even got the chance to finish that sentence as I was instantly tackled to the floor in a hug.

"Oh my gosh Kairi! You'll never guess what happened." She practically screeched out, creating what I feared to be permanent damage to my ears.

I winced but just couldn't resist that smile that was shoving itself onto my face. "Umm, no. Tell?"

I swore I saw her grin widen as she jumped off me allowing me to stand up and brush the sand off my uniform, all the while wondering how the heck her face is still in one piece.

When I look up she was practically bouncing up and down, her face beaming.

This was either something really good, or really, really bad.

But just as soon as her mouth opened a shrill scream came from behind me.

"G-Giant ants!!"

My heart dropped, Heartless.

― **¤** ―

The clouds parted, revealing a shower of meteors and illuminating the otherwise dark world. The soft light allowed him to see better as the seemingly endless sea of Heartless expanded around him. A symbol made entirely of purple fire surrounded him, the Heartless' own symbol.

He turned back to face the boy he had detained earlier and their gazes met for a second as he noticed that he no longer had his blindfold on and his lips moved to echo a question that had been asked over and over again to no end over the last year.

"Where's Sora?"

The Heartless leapt into the air, snapping the cloaked boy's attention back towards them. Following their example, he slashed at most of the airborne Heartless, just as he reached the top of his jump he threw one of his Keyblades, sending it spiraling towards the left over airborne Heartless and causing them to disappear in black wisps of smoke. He caught the weapon with his free hand before landing on the ground with grace.

He looked back at the building and made a decision.

Jumping up to the side of the building and proceeded to run up, slashing through any Heartless foolish enough to get in his path.

As soon as he got close enough he threw one of his Keyblades towards the blindfolded man, not to hit him, but for something else.

Riku seemed confused as the Keyblade neared him but seemed to catch onto what the opposing Keyblade wielder intended to do and leapt off the building, catching the approaching Keyblade with one of his hands.

An image of Kairi flickered beneath them as they crossed paths; time seemed to slow down as they momentarily exchanged glances. He had to practically tear his gaze off the screen as a horde of Heartless approached them.

Bringing his newly obtained Keyblade 'Oblivion' in front of him, Riku hacked through the army of Heartless with little effort.

The ground came closer to him and Riku landed on all fours, as soon as he did a handful of Heartless leaped towards him but never got the chance to touch ground, because just as they were on the peak of their jump, the boy wielding the Oathkeeper slashed through them with no effort.

Soon after what seemed to be forever the area was clear of any remaining Heartless, both Keyblade wielders jumped away from each other before engaging in a battle of their own.

"Why do you wield the Keyblade!?" Riku managed to choke out between his breath and the constant pounding of his heart against his chest just as he swung the Oblivion.

The hooded boy knocked Riku back with a swing of his Keyblade, running towards him he held the Oathkeeper behind his head, preparing for what could be a deadly blow. "Like you care!"

Riku held up the Oblivion just as the stranger swung the Oathkeeper forward, resulting in the loud clanging of metal against metal and the sparks of light that accompanied it.

"Yes I do!"

Moving his legs forward, Riku managed to kick the opposing boy of balance, making him hit the ground with a rather loud thud, his Keyblade slipping out of his hands and landing out of his reach. Taking this chance Riku stood up and held the Oblivion just above his head.

"Are you Sora?" Riku mumbled, his gaze not once flinching as he glared at the boy under his weapon.

The stranger suddenly found his feet interesting as he began staring at them intently, shaking his head in reply. "Maybe… But, I'm…" he paused mid-way, "… Roxas."

Riku raised a single brow, "Maybe? There is no maybe; it's either yes or no."

'Roxas' raised his head to look at Riku, "I know… But…" he stopped once again mid-way, finding his gaze drifting off towards the last streak of white in the sky. "The meteors are gone now." He noted, obviously changing the subject.

Groaning in frustration, Riku slammed his foot on the other's side without even thinking on the consequences. "Stop avoiding my questions!"

Roxas only brought a hand to his side as he stood up, "I have no answers for them."

Turning away he stared up towards the sky, "We should get moving, _they_ are coming soon." Bringing a hand up to his head, he slid off his hood and snuck a glance towards his discarded Keyblade, almost immediately willing it away.

Riku glared momentarily at Roxas before grabbing his shoulder and turning him towards him. "If you could have…" he almost immediately felt a lump form on his throat as his stomach tightened. "You _are_ Sora…"

Bright blue eyes, the tanned skin, jaw line… Everything was the same except for the hair, which was spiky and blond, yet nowhere near as messy as Sora's. It was almost like Déjà Vu looking at him.

The blond boy chuckled, "What are you? A broken record?" he smiled but it never reached his eyes for a reason. "You should repeat this then 'Let's get out of here'."

Only then was it that Riku remembered _it_. "Oh…!"

Roxas was about to turn away to lead the way when Riku grabbed his shoulder once again and twirled him around. He was about to ask what was wrong but as he opened his mouth to speak a crumpled up piece of paper was shoved into his face.

"What is this?" He muttered snatching the piece of paper in his hand and looking up at Riku. This made said silver-haired boy smirk.

"Read it."

Frowning, Roxas complied, his eyes widening with each and every word.

Once finished he looked up at Riku, eyes wide with surprise. "W-What? But why would I do it?"

At this Riku's smirk widened. "Because, it's going to help you with your 'goal'."

And this was Roxas' cue to smirk. "I see."

― **¤** ―

_Riku, _

_I'm sorry I couldn't be there to tell ya all this in person, but I have someone I need to find first._

_There's so much ya need to know, but this will do for now. _

_First is first, there seems to be some trouble up in the worlds! I've been secretly investigating a group called 'Organization XIII' which is completely made of Nobodies, beings without Hearts. As for their objectives, well, I don't know that, but they're definitely up to somethin' so watch out!_

_As for the next matter. Rumors between worlds say that there's a new Keyblade wielder, as for who I don't know, but when you meet him give him the letter left inside the envelope, 'cause I know ya will meet him. _

_I'll tell you more when we meet again._

_Take care!_

_Mickey M._

― **¤** ―

And it was moments like this she wished she hadn't ditched Tidus a Wakka when they decided to practice with her and Selphie in favor of going to the shore.

Countless Heartless had invaded the island, and as she recalled on the first time they invaded the islands, there had also been a weird meteor.

Dodging what seemed to be the fifth Shadow this day, she kept running towards the docks basically going in the opposite direction of the rest of the villagers, Selphie following closely behind her.

"K-Kairi! Where are we going!?" Selphie managed to shout out as she got shouldered once again.

"To the d-docks!" Kairi managed to choke out as she ran ignoring the pulsing pain going up and down her knees.

"Shouldn't we be running away from them!?"

"No," dodging another person Kairi kept running, a small trail of sweat going down her brow. "That's the way to the Islands!"

"B-But, those black _things_ came from there!" Selphie choked, her legs numbing from the pain.

"I need to know…!" Kairi shouted out, swinging away a Shadow that has tried to leap at her with a rather long stick she had picked up along the way.

She heard Selphie shrike and whirled around just in time to see a Shadow leaping towards her friend. She pulled her away by the arm just in time, causing the Shadow to hit the ground face first and look around in confusion before becoming a crawling shadow on the ground.

"Let's go!" Selphie meekly nodded and allowed herself to be lead by Kairi, scared of what might happen if they got separated.

Not a word was exchanged as the hurried to the docks, avoiding both villager and Heartless with some effort.

'_Don't worry Sora, I'm closer to finding you.'_ Kairi thought with confidence as she warded off another Heartless, a quivering Selphie close behind her.

-0-0-0------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hmm… Eight pages and 3,000 plus words. That's better than last time.

Anyways, looks like Roxas has come into the story, and so has Riku. I feel like I'm going a bit too fast with this story though… In this story I doubt I will be making Kairi the Damsel In Distress type she was in KH and most of KHII, so she'll actually fight here. XD;

Also I need someone to tell me how 'Thalasa' is actually spelled, in case you don't remember, those are the shells Kairi was using to make her Lucky Charm (AKA: The Otherkeepers keychain) in KHI, so if anyone can help me with the spelling, I'd be uberly happy. XDDD;;;

As for what happened to Sora and what's in Kairi's letter, it'll all be revealed in due time. Until then, thank you for the reviews.

(And take that Bill Gates! I still have two full days of trial left! XDD;;; -shotdown-)

**EDIT**: Uploaded the wrong file, my bad.


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